Rolling doors of the prior art have linked panels or segments that can be drawn away from an opening and rolled around a cylinder or drum.
Singapore Patent SG 54616 describes a transparent rolling door having panels that are each made up from sections of transparent plastics material. Brackets fitted to the top edge of each panel engage complementary brackets fitted to the bottom edge of the next panel above to link the panels together. The engagement of the brackets allows the linked panels to wrap around a roller. The brackets, which may be made from extruded aluminium, are attached to the panel edges, for example by screws.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0037888 describes a roller shutter having transparent panels made from a synthetic resin. Adjacent panels are hinged together by the engagement of fitted caps or integrally-formed rounded edges, along the long edges of each panel, in respective C-shaped slots of a hinge member. The short edges of each panel and hinge member slide in a pair of guide rails. The hinging angle of adjacent panels is limited to ensure the shutter slides smoothly without jamming in the guide rails.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,289 describes a rolling shutter assembly in which adjacent slats are pivotally linked together in pairs, each pair being linked to adjacent pairs of slats by a hinge member. The relative rotation at the pivotal link between slats is restricted to ensure that, as the shutter is unrolled, each slat collapses onto its adjacent lower slat in the desired V-shaped pattern. Upward movement of an upper slat is restricted by engagement with a bracket to prevent the shutter from being opened by lifting from a lower slat, and to prevent upper slats from riding up when a force is applied to flatten the V-shapes of the hinged slats. The width, ie height, of one of the slats is selected or is adjustable to match the height of the shutter to that of the opening over which the shutter is fitted.